Scotcheroos

When life is better and I can rejoin the world in eating solid(er) foods, I will make scotcheroos again.  I'm only posting this, because as I did some research on another German food, I noticed that many people outside of the Midwest didn't know what scotcheroos were.  Or they did, but by a different name like Special K bars.  Either way, these need to be tried...ASAP!  Trust me, de-lish!

Scotcheroos

1 cup sugar

1 cup corn (Karo) syrup

1 cup peanut butter

5 cups Rice Krispies

Dissolve sugar in the syrup on stove over medium heat.  Heat until boils, stir so doesn't burn to bottom.

Remove from heat and mix in peanut butter.  Pour mixture of Rice Krispies and press into 9x13 pan.

Melt 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup butterscotch chips together.  Spread over bars.  Let set to harden.



*I've also used this recipes with Cheerios and Special K cereal.

The sun is shining, the pain has slightly subsided this afternoon, and its almost the weekend.  Enjoy the vitamin D!

Life, cravings, and such

Sorry, no cute little chipmunk pictures for you today. 

Life is still a little on the downs right now.  Started feeling the pain and starting to not feel so wonderful.  Could be a lack of Vicadin...who knows.  But I figured it would be best that I didn't take my pain meds at work and snore with my head on the desk!  But yet, I might enjoy it.  I'll have to take that up with the boss tomorrow and see what I can do about it.

One good thing, I guess you could say, that came from this whole situation, is my choice of food.  If I had a scale at home, I probably lost a few pounds.  I could us the Wii fit and check my weight, but then the little Wii board will yell at me for not being there in the past 127 days!...oops.  I guess the other thing would be I am saving money and aspartame intake on Diet Coke.  Yes, I do miss my diet coke, but I haven't had a huge craving like I thought I would.

I do, however, crave things like...
Steak
Pizza
Chips
Crackers and cheese
Sandwichs
Chicken and bacon sandwich from Wendy's


my favorite Mexican resturant, El Sombrero's

....actually anything with substance and, non-liquidy

On another note, I went made a purchase last night.

*I actually ordered these in black because I already have a pair of pink and white Nike's that I love.





These are the cute, little (and I mean little) shoes I looked for 3 years ago and could never find.  I couldn't pass them up this time considering they were $59.99 and on sale for $29.99.  Now here's the deal I made with myself...

I am going to use these shoes to start walking/running more this summer. 

I sure hope I can keep that promise to myself, and my shoes!

Oh yeah, I ordered a size 6 little girls...yes, thats the size I wear! Or at least I think.  I checked my other shoes and I'm about 90% sure that those were little girls too.  I hope that is right, but I looked today and they are sold out of this shoe already!  Good thing I didn't hesitate too long.

Hope everyone is having a great day and keep praying for Spring...PLEASE!

How I've been feeling the past few days...

Exactly like a chipmunk.  I look a lot like this little guy, except not as cute!  I've been holding down the couch and our king sized, comfy bed.  Life hasn't been the worst, considering.  I thought I was probably going to die, or get extremely sick or something bad.  But so far, the worst is the swollen cheeks that put pressure on my mouth and jaw for a slight soreness.  SO FAR (knock on wood) everything seems normal and we are steering clear of dry socket. 

 ...I will warn you, if I do happen to end up with the dreaded situation, I am going to be a baby.  I don't do well with pain and sickness.  I have had some sick feelings but I am connecting that with the amount of medications I've been taking and the lack of food I've been eating. 

I never thought I would say that I didn't want anymore soup or ice cream or pudding or whatever else I've been trying to force down.  The worst is trying to eat mac & cheese (love the blue box!) and only being able to swallow it.  You end up with a tummy ache!

Through this whole process, hubby hasn't been here much.  I think he made sure there were things for him to do this weekend so he didn't have to sit and cater and listen to me whine! Ha, if he only knew that I slept about 20 hours of the day and didn't have time to whine!  Oh well, the first day, while I was sleeping, he sweetly made me chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding, and watermelon jello jigglers.  That was sweet of him.  But I think that he thought if he did all that in one day, he was good for the rest of the healing process.  Sadly mistaken because I MADE him make me mashed potatos and gravy.  Then that was my mistake, because I had to scrape potatoes off the back splash...now I remember why I usually do the cooking!

Life isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Back to work tomorrow.  Hope I make it the whole day, but I couldn't even make it through a funeral today.  Got lightheaded and hot and thought I was going to pass out.  So, wish me luck on my work adventure!

Hope none of you are chipmunk faced and have a great evening! :)

Loss of wisdom

Well, I finally did it.  I lost 4 little bits of wisdom today.  I was nervous as hell before today.  Once I got there, I seemed ok.  Last thing I remember was the doctor taking off his white coat and the nurse putting something in my mouth to keep it open.  Hmm...I wonder what happened in those 45 minutes that I was out.  I am in decent spirits.  Just want to sleep, but can't right now. 

Might be too much for someone with a weak stomach, but I'm tired of swallowing blood.  Really just want to rinse my mouth, remove all the damn gauze and sleep the day away.  Oh yeah, my lip is so swollen that I feel like I was punched in the face.  Food would be nice, like a big ol' sub or a chicken bacon burger from Arby's.  Guess my diet consists of Jello, water, pudding, yogurt and broth for the next couple days.  Looks like this is my 2011 diet plan!  Oh well, I guess I will sit here for the day with my ice packs and hold down the chair. 

Hopefully life will be all normal again soon.  I'm just not to sure about taking the Vicadon.  I'm not even good with taking Excedrin.

My non-swollen face, yet slighting intoxicated (like I feel now)
Sitting on a pumpkin at the Bellagio in Vegas

Hope everyone is having a great, non-swollen face day!

{Half} Snow Day!

I got to enjoy half of my day at home yesterday.  North Dakota weather can't make up its mind and we ended up with blizzard like conditions.  Leaving work at noon was probably the worst idea we had.  It cleared up around 2:30 and I would have felt more comfortable driving home then.  To give you an idea of how bad it was to drive, try driving into the sun with your eyes crossed while you are not sure if you are on the road or driving in the ditch. Lots of fun! Okay, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it would have been nice to be able to at least see the road!   Old Man Winter, what was wrong with the green grass that was noticeable 2 days ago!?  And if you failed to look at the calendar, I will fill you in...Spring Begins - March 20, 2011...remember?

Life was ok once I finished my 20 minute trek that usually takes 7 minutes.  I spent some time on the couch, in the kitchen, and in the garage.  My brother-in-law and 2 of our good friends stopped by on their snow day journey around the country side.  We may have had a snowball fight in the garage while enjoying some "cocktails."  Life was good!

And then today!...My manager called to inform me that the plows had gone through this morning and I could start my way to work.  Come to find out once I hit the highway that someone doesn't know what a plow is!...they hadn't showed their faces yet.  It was just as bad as the way home except that the wind wasn't blowing 40 mph and obstructing my view with snow.  I was only partially stuck twice, and I finally made it to my cozy chair at the office.  Now I just pray for Spring, and man am I going to pray! White is NOT my favorite color and I would like to see my back deck before April!

The park across the street

Neighbors car buried, and you can't tell but the snow is up to the deck on all sides!

Have a great, warm, colorful day! :) I think I might dye the snow green when I get home to cheer myself up!

Happy Friday

Just spent a good amount of time trying to make my blog "pretty."  I am struggling and I usually don't struggle with these kinds of things.  One day, when I'm at home and not at work, I will spend some time trying to fix the problem I made at the top of the page!  Right now, it's going to stay so I remember what my intentions were. 



May 22, 2010.
Photo Credit: J Burman Photography
Photo Edit Credit: Myself



Weekend plans include a much needed hair cut and some relaxation time.  I hope the weather stays nice enough to spend some time at a beautiful place we call "The Farm."  This would be the farm that raised 9 children (one being my MIL) and hosted a beautiful wedding last May.  I am missing the scenery out there and the open spaces and hills.  Can't wait for Spring so I can start taking pictures of the farming process, from seed to a golden wheat field (my favorite time of the year!).  I wish I would have had a camera last night to take pictures of all the cute little calves. 

Hope you have a relaxing, enjoyable weekend!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Being almost half Irish, I do enjoy myself some St. Patty's day!  It is quite possibly my 3rd favorite holiday :)  Hope you all have your green on and, maybe, catch some luck today.

On another note.  After well over a month, I. Keating decided to stop hording our new furniture and it is now in its new home.  Once again, another lovely D-town business has managed to anger  piss us off enough to probably never order through them again.  It wouldn't have been so bad, but they said it would be here around March 1.  When I called on March 2, they said it wouldn't ship until the 11th and MIGHT be in on the 14th or 15th.  Thankfully it was in on the 15th, otherwise there may have been a beat down.  In the meantime, we had also purchased a new coffee and end table set which was in when we bought it, but decided to take it all together.  Well, we picked up the tables when we were in town one Saturday and thought we would finance everything while we were there.  Come to find out that J's "open" account was closed after the financing company was bought out.  We were not supposed to open any new accounts because we are in the middle of refinancing.  So I may have gotten a little upset and said a few things to the lady at the counter (who I know has NOTHING to do with the fact) and said I am done with I. Keating.  So we tried to re-apply and they denied us right away because we have so much money tied up in the refinance right now.  End of story, mom was nice enough to apply and was accepted and financed for us. 

Anyway, new furniture and tables are lookin' gorgeous in the living room.  Now, I just need to find new curtains or girly, fancy scarf like drapey things.....whatever they are called.  The ones we have, except in the bedroom, are all ones that came with the house.  I'm not real good with decorating! 

View from the front door.



View from the dining room.

Hope everyone is enjoying some nicer temps and your green beer today! Don't eat too much corned beef and cabbage!

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

Last night, I made chili and one of our favorite bread sides, garlic cheese biscuits.  They are much better when your Bisquick wasn't left open and now has a funny taste, but they were still edible!  Anyway, here is the quick and easy recipe that I use.  They taste fairly similar to the ones you get at Red Lobster.

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

2 cup Bisquick

1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese

2/3 cup Milk

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

Mix Bisquick, cheese, and milk until moist.  Drop by spoon on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake @ 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Combine butter and garlic powder and brush over top when done.

Enjoy!  I hope the warmer weather is making you smile :)

Decorating slowness

Yes, I have decorating slowness.  I struggle with decorating, so it takes me longer to figure out what I want.  Almost 10 months after the wedding, I finally put up some bigger pictures.  AND, after about 2.5 years, our big empty wall is now filled :)  It took me about a month to pick a paint color for the wall and when I finally did, I really liked it.  Now the wall is done and I can focus on another room, like the spare bathroom.  Which, I have ideas, and I'm excited to start. 

I love the old barn window that says "The family is God's greatest Masterpiece"
A great craft show find.

Hope you are all enjoying the nicer weather and adjusting to the time change!

Splish Splash

So, I came home from work early.  I finally caught what my hubby has had for over a week.  And now he's better.  I was bored of sleeping and watching TV and drinking water.  So I decided to take a bath for the 3rd time since I've lived here.  I am posting about this because we have a beautiful garden tub that never gets used.


Sorry I can't get it rotated.

 I'm not sure how long it would take to fill this tub with the perfect amount of warm water because I get bored at waiting for it to fill.  Then, it is too big for me that I could probably use one of those special bath pillows.  I would read in the tub, but I know I would drop my book.  Then there's the hubby issue.  Even if I wanted to just get away and soak for awhile, he would be knocking on the door asking me what I was doing.  (He does it because he knows it irritates me! -Love you too hubby)  We talked about getting a tub with jets, but then we know we live in a modular home and this tub is probably and odd size and we would never be able to fit a different one in there.  So, for now, I will continue to clean the dust out every 3 weeks and maybe use it one day when we have children. 

The other reason for this post is that I can't decide what I want to put on that big, empty wall.  I have an issue with what is "bathroom appropriate."  SO, if you have any suggestions, I am very open to them.  I thought about putting a vinyl sticker there, but then I wasn't sure about the humidity from the shower causing it to un-stick.  One day I will have this house completely decorated, and then it will be "out of style."

Here's hoping you are all well and don't catch what is roaming around the western part of ND.

In need of a little encouragement today...

"Believe it can be done.  When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it.  Believing a solution paves the way to solution." ~David Joseph Schwartz

"Faith makes all things possible...love makes all things easy." ~Unknown

"There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever."  ~Mahatma Gandhi

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." ~Reinhold Niebuhr

Seems I have been forgetting to just believe, have faith, and hope for the best; no matter what happens, I always have love.  With this "new" perspective and outlook on the future, I am going to simply try to enjoy my weekend.  Wishing for the sun and nice temps all in one day so this pasty ND dreamer can smile a little more.  Sounds like we all have the winter blues (or simply lacking vitamin D...and color!).  Happy weekends to you all :)

Knoephla Soup

My hubby eats knoephla soup like it's goin' outta style!  He asks for it at least once a week, plus we eat leftovers the next night.  We even eat it in the summer time.  A little bit of an obsession I would say.  I got this recipe from a friend.  This is her hubby's Grandmothers, old German recipe.  I made knoephla once with my "recipe"...hubby ate it, but never asked for it again.  When I started using this recipe, he ah...well, gained some weight (because this soup is definitely not on a low cal, low fat, low carb diet plan!).  Anyway, take a look and try it for yourself.  You won't regret it! :) (remember to head over to C's page and thank her when you are done!)

*This recipe makes a whole lotta soup!  I cut it down to measurements for hubby and I once.  Now I just use my judgement on amounts of everything.  Just keep tasting the broth until it's to your liking.

Grandma Rosie's Knoephla Soup

24 cups water

16 Tbsp Chicken base (or use bouillon cubes)

5 pounds potatoes - peeled & cubed

1 stalk celery - diced

1-2 cups carrots - diced

1 onion - chopped

3 tsp salt

3 tsp pepper

3 tsp parsley flakes

1-2 pints half and half or whipping cream

Add vegetables, salt, pepper, and parsley to water and chicken base.  Bring to a boil and cook until veggies are tender.  Add dumplings, bring back to a boil.  Simmer until dumplings are cooked through.

Add half and half or whipping cream.  Stir, eat, and enjoy!

Dumplings: I use 5 eggs, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2-1 tsp baking powder, and 2-4 cups flour (depending on egg size) Mix everything together until dough is stiff.  Drop into boiling soup.

You can also use the pre-made, frozen dumplings found in the store



Unexpected Announcement...

I can't believe it has taken me so long to make those announcement.  If you saw how excited I was when I told my hubby about it, you would have thought I would have blogged right away!! Saturday was just a great day :)




:)

:)


...I am now the proud owner of a Twins Mauer jersey!

What else were you expecting I was so excited about? :)  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to own this wonderful addition to my wardrobe.  It was at T.J Maxx for 25 bucks...and it's a little boys size 10/12! Exceptional price.  Except, I can't decide if it is work appropriate.  I had it on this morning and changed after the argument continued in my head.  One day, maybe during the season, I will wear it.  I really can't wait to wear it to Target Field this summer though! Hopefully, that trip becomes a reality so that I can bond with some awesome family members and see the beloved Twins in their new territory!
Have a great day...Spring is right around the corner.  I think I can make it.